Last of the Year...

A few more hours and it'll be 2010.

I can't wait for 2009 to be gone...it hasn't been a personally horrible year, but I'm always wanting to look upwards and onwards. Which would include having next year be ten thousand times better than this year. Including having a union gig so that I don't have to shell out $800 a month for COBRA all year. We'll see.





















I'm getting over yet another cold-thingy. The flu shot didn't seem to work this year. Feh. So next year I'm keeping my $20 and buying another dvd instead.

The good thing about being sick so much is the urge to get back the endurance I lost from the day job. That seems to be going well, as I was able to scrimmage last night while doped up on cough medication and barely broke a sweat. I didn't play exceptionally well, but my endurance was great!





















My new favorite show is Man v. Food. Why the hell didn't I tune in earlier? This show was made for slobs like me. I now want to become a competitive eater when I grow up, cos I can nom the hell outta food.




















As a belated birthday present to myself, I got the raddest book ever. I accidentally stumbled across it at a local bookstore while shopping for the Dear Husband. And I promptly had a pleasant heart attack as I thumbed through the pages. MUST HAVE. I was on the bicycle, and the book is HUGE, so I went home and looked up the book on the bookstore's website. Not available.

Dammit.

Went to the publisher's website. Not in stock.

DAMMIT.

Then I remembered that I had a gift card from said bookstore stuck to the fridge, so I ambled back over on the bicycle and bought the book.

EPIC WIN, BY GAWD.

Welp, off to read some books and generally be boring on this NYE. Stay safe, kids!

My Mom Loves Me

I got a late birthday present today from my mom.

A snuggie.

Not just any ol' store bought Snuggie in leopard print. Not a doggie Snuggie, either.

I am now the proud owner of a pirate-themed snuggie that MY MOM MADE HERSELF.

FOR ME.




I WIN AT LIFE THIS WEEK.


Photos will follow soon.

Fucking Epic

This time last year the Dear Husband was working on a James Cameron film.

It was SOOPER-SECRET. It was sooooooooo secret, the DH wouldn't tell me anything about the film except that it had 9-foot-tall blue aliens in it and it was called Avatar. Eh, whatever! was my reaction at the time.

Most weeks were 7 day, 12 hour long funfests of computer magicry. Scenes were shot, reshot, reshot, reshot, and reshot again. When reshoots happened, the crew basically shrugged their tired shoulders and said, What are you gonna do? We're working for James-fucking-Cameron. He's known to be "difficult" to work with, and it's best to do what he says and just shut up about it.

And keep on working.

And working.

And working.

Some people worked on this film for years. The DH was on it for six months longer than anticipated. Luckily(?)I was freelancing on Back at the Barnyard, so even though I missed seeing him, I figured it's all part of the job when working for James-fucking-Cameron. When the DH was finally laid off, he insisted on hibernating for the rest of the year because he was so mentally exhausted.

But he said this film was going to be EPIC.

I got my first clue about how EPIC it was going to be when there was an Extra-Special 15 Minute Sneak Preview screening in late August across the US. When I went into the IMAX theater, I was still extremely not interested in the film. I'm not a big fan of sci-fi or action-adventure. Blue aliens? Dances With Wolves-esque story? Really? Blah.

I came out of the theater saying, WHOA.

YEAH, the DH replied.













A few months later...


Last night was the cast and crew screening of the finished film at Grauman's Chinese Theater.

Again, storywise it's not breaking new ground, but...

WHOA.

It's fucking EPIC, y'all.

No, really. It's REALLY FUCKING EPIC.

Go see it in IMAX. SRSLY. You'll wet yourselves.

Right after the screening was the afterparty at the Roosevelt Hotel(I have to remind myself to go back there to check out the redone lobby one of these days). We get there early, and right near the entrance is...James-fucking-Cameron, being gracious and talking it up with everyone who walked in.

OK.

Hollywood Bigshot of the highest order. Not too crowded party. Big loud-mouthed redhead who just saw a Fucking Epic movie that the Hollywood Bigshot made. What could possibly go wrong with this combination?

Side note: James-fucking-Cameron is so intimidating that at last year's holiday party, everyone's sphincter tightened up to instantly create diamonds in their intestines the moment Jim and his wife showed up. I've never seen anything like it. This dude gets crazy-mad respect from his crews.

I walk up to him. Wait while he talks to other people who shake his hand vigorously. He turns to me. I shake his hand and say, Congratulations on making an EPIC FUCKING FILM!

Now, go back to the crazy-made respect part for a quick second. Most people would NOT say that to a Hollywood Bigshot of the highest order. They would be very polite, very deferential, and very kissass. I, however, don't have a damned thing to lose, and why not be honest if it's complimentary?

It worked.

He smiles happily, turns to his wife and says, Did you hear that? FUCKING EPIC! Other folks gathered around the Man of the Evening laugh. The DH is probably about to faint behind me. Jokes are made about putting my "quote" in the ad campaigns. Jokes are then made about how the film is just...ok. I might tell my friends about it, I say to James-fucking-Cameron, then tell him congratulations again and wisely scooted away as more people started to flock around him.

Afterwards I instantly had the shakes and couldn't believe that I wasn't escorted off the premises.

The DH had a great time retelling the story to everyone he knew on the crew. He stayed later than I did and whooped it up right. Hopefully the work done on this film will lead to him being busy next year and I get the chance to be a foul-mouthed asshole to other Hollywood Bigshots!

EPIC WIN.

Moar Random Pix

I'm too busy to make relevant posts, so here's some more bullcrap stuff.


Top blockers from my last game this season:














Compare to the top blocker stats from the first game this season:













Goddam, I came a loooooong way.



Here's Cagey Bea and I asserting our Commie Bastardness thanks to Charlie Chu:

















Stalkerazzi caught me on my way up to the Nerd Nest with birthday beer:





















My last day at work will be the 22nd. I might be able to do some holiday shopping on the 23rd! Yay!

21 + 20

Yesterday was my birthday.

You know what? Turning 41 seems to be a Not A Big Deal type of birthday, which makes me happy.

Had fun eating and drinking all day, and even squeezed in a beach skate before the weather turned foul. WIN.

The husband got me my very own GPS unit to carry around and even occasionally use. WIN!

A lot of people wished me a happy birthday. Partly because the Derby Dolls 2009 championship game was the night before my birthday. I got a LOT of birthday drinks, cake, and even got swept off my feet by a Santa impostor at the afterparty. WIN!!

Also at the afterparty, I drew an inordinate amount of boob-tattoos. Not a bad thing, but usually I draw on arms more than anything. Good thing there was a guy there whose arms were covered in tattoos but wanted me to draw on him, so he pulled up his shirt and I got to draw away from hipbone to solar plexus. WIIIIIIINNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!





















I have two weeks left at the ol' jobby-job. There was hope that the gig would get extended to January, but apparently that's not gonna happen. BUMMER.

Things have gotten comfy to the point where us three in-house storyboard people have no problem screaming, WHORE!!!!!!!!! when the computer program crashes while we work. An occasional ASSHOLE! can be heard as well when things are really crazy.



Last Friday was the Animation Union party. New location, but we still were packed together like sardines trying to network and stuff. I was pleased to discover that people wanted to talk to me again this year...being social at these events is a new feeling for me!




















One side effect from the job is not getting enough exercise. My exercise time has been cut in half. A couple of weeks ago I rode my bicycle from home to the track(approx. 28 miles roundtrip), and thought I was going to die. Part of it was the bent rear wheel on the bicycle, but part of it was also my losing endurance. I also had a derby practice where I thought my lungs were going to explode, and that NEVER happens.

So I've been getting up two hours earlier than I do when I'm working from home to get in some running, bicycling or beach skating before work. It's helped my mood tremendously, though I now have some nasty blisters on my feet for taking up the beach skating again.




















Derby has been making me think a lot lately.

I'm still in a quandry over how to fit together fun/athleticism/monetarily viable when it comes to DIY derby. Why does pure athleticism have to lose the fun edge that brought this crazy group of people together in the first place? Will DIY derby splinter off into groups? The Oly Rollers/pure athletic group made up of lifelong atheletes who want to make derby an Olympic sport. The competitive-but-probably-didn't-come-from-a-sports-background group that makes up most of derby right now. The totally goofy spectacle-over-sport group that features fighting over form?

It could happen. All I know is that I like where I ended up skating-wise...competitive but still willing to wear some silly outfits because it's FUN.





















I feel like I'm waiting for something to happen in life.

Which is stupid, because I should be making something happen for myself. I think this is what keeps me from being a success...too fearful to just say FUCK IT and come up with a plan and plow through with it. What's going to galvanize my puny little frog brain into action?

I don't know.

But overall I'm happy and busy for the moment, and that's OK.

For now.